


was avoiding the pain worth avoiding me?

by dykeTerezi



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, basically annabeth became a hunter so percy accepted offer to become a god, its literally all angst, theres no happy part
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:01:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29324388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dykeTerezi/pseuds/dykeTerezi
Summary: He really couldn’t blame her for wanting to leave all the pain of prophecies and quests behind.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Estelle Blofis & Percy Jackson
Comments: 9
Kudos: 46





	was avoiding the pain worth avoiding me?

**Author's Note:**

> hey oomfs im mentally ill

She had kissed his cheek, tears in her eyes, before turning to stand by Artemis’ side. He felt white hot anger swell in his chest and the sound of rushing water in his ears, but he blinked and it all disappeared. 

He really couldn’t blame her for wanting to leave all the pain of prophecies and quests behind. 

So he continued on his own, without his best friend. Without his partner. Without the girl that told him she would always be by his side. 

He fought Kronos on his own, slicing Luke’s achilles’ heel through a chink in his armor while his own remained unguarded. 

And when the gods offered him the greatest gift, he avoided turning back and looking at the hunters, at Annabeth. She had made her decision and it was time for his own. 

He looked Zeus in the eye.

“Okay.” 

There was a glint in Zeus’ eyes from receiving such a passive acceptance of godhood, but Poseidon held up his hand, silently asking Zeus to calm his temper and remain seated. 

Zeus continued to glare at him for a moment before looking up and addressing the other Olympians. “Does anyone have a suggestion for what Perseus will become the god of?”

There was silence for a moment before some suggestions were raised, ranging from “Stupidity,” (“That’s already taken by Apollo,” Artemis said), to “Insolence,” (there was some laughter among the gods, but no one refuted that one). However, Athena’s voice sounded above all the others. 

“Loyalty.”

Percy looked up at her to see her gaze on him, a calculating look in her eyes that reminded him so much of her daughter. He looked away. 

He went home after. It didn’t seem right for the newly minted god of loyalty to waver from his loyalty to his mother. 

She knew something was different the second she opened the door to see her son. 

“What will you do now?” she asked him later. 

“I don’t know.”

He spent the next year roaming the earth, cursing the odd mortal that cheated on their partner. 

He ran into the hunters in alaska and almost knelt in front of Artemis before remembering he was a god as well now. He knelt down anyways. She invited him to eat with her and her hunters, remembering a few years prior when he had taken the weight of the sky from her as just a mortal. 

Annabeth sat to the left of Artemis through their meal and Percy carefully avoided looking at her the entire time.

Years passed. His mother had gotten married and he had walked her down the aisle, eyes glowing as he warned Paul, “You better stay loyal to my mother.” 

Paul had nodded quickly, promising he would have stayed loyal to her even if her son wasn’t the greek god of loyalty. 

He now had a sister—a perfectly normal, mortal sister. Estelle. 

He pressed his lips to her forehead the day she was born and promised to her that he would be by her side whenever she wanted him. 

He found himself unable to leave her side for the next two months.

He visited Camp Half-Blood whenever Estelle let him leave and sat on the pier with Nico di Angelo. 

“Why did you accept?” Nico had asked once. 

Percy leaned back, lying down on the pier with his feet still dangling in the water. “I don’t know.” 

Nico waited.

“I guess, I thought there would be another prophecy, another quest, another favor I would have to do for the gods... and I figured if I took the offer, then I wouldn’t have to do any of that anymore?” 

Time continued on. 

His mother died. The day of her funeral, Estelle yelled at him, shoving him back and demanding to know why he didn’t do something to save their mother. 

His eyes glinted dangerously and he yelled back. “Do you know how old I am, Estelle? I’m 36! I’ve only been a  _ god _ for 20 years,” he spat out the word god like it was his least favorite word in every language on the planet. “And you know what?” he continued, “it was the  _ worst _ mistake of my life!”

Estelle took a step back and he kept going. 

“ _You’re _ 18 years old and I’m about to watch you experience all of life that I will never be able to!  _ I’m _ stuck looking like I’m 16 because I don’t know how I would look like as an adult!

“I don’t know why you think this,” he gestured violently at his mother’s funeral shroud, “is affecting me less than it’s affecting you! She was my mother too, and I may live forever, but I’ll never have another mother either. I am as helpless as you are right now.” 

Estelle had gotten stubbornness from her older brother. “Whatever,” she said. “Just leave me alone.”

Percy groaned, throwing his hands in the air. “I can’t!”

Estelle opened her mouth to argue and claim that he could do whatever he wanted but he pointed a finger at her and continued. 

“The day  _ you _ were born, I promised you that I would be by your side whenever you wanted me and  _ now _ regardless of you telling me to get out of here, I’m  stuck here! ”

Estelle started crying and Percy imagined punching himself in the face. He stepped in close to her and opened his arms and let her fall into him. He let her tears soak his suit and stroked her hair until her breathing steadied. 

Estelle asked him later, wondering why she hadn’t asked earlier, “Why are you the god of loyalty?” 

Percy sighed, his hands stilling in the process of braiding his sister’s hair. He looked up at the ceiling, as if he could see right through the roof and directly at the Olympian goddess who had decided.“Athena once told me that my personal loyalty was my fatal flaw. To save a friend, I would sacrifice the world.” 

Estelle frowned. “That’s not a flaw.”

Percy laughed, but it sounded hollow. “The most dangerous flaws are those which are good in moderation.” He looked back down at Estelle, who was sprawled across the sofa with her head in his lap. “Athena told me that too.” 

A few years later, Percy walked his sister down the aisle the same way he had his mother. 

His eyes glowed dangerously at the daughter of Aphrodite that Estelle was marrying. “I don’t have to warn you, do I?” 

She shook her head quickly. “Of course not, Lord Perseus. I love her very much.” 

The threatening glow in Percy’s eyes disappeared and he grinned. “After you kiss the bride,” he tilted his head, gesturing toward his sister, “you can call me Percy.” 

Estelle needed him less after her wedding.

So he roamed the world again, wandering aimlessly for years until he ran into the hunters again. This time, Artemis caught him by the arms before he tried to kneel. “Perseus, we are equals.” 

He nodded, eyes drifting to Annabeth, standing at Artemis’ side again. She held his gaze as they studied each other. 

She looked the exact same as she did years ago. Her ponytail still a mess and her Camp Half-Blood necklace still around her neck. The only difference was a sadness in her eyes that wasn’t there before. 

Her presence felt familiar yet so painfully foreign. 

He had convinced himself years ago that Annabeth must have been happy as a hunter. But seeing the pain in her eyes made him falter. 

Then, within a blink of an eye, Annabeth’s gray eyes were filled with tears and she bounded forward and threw her arms around his neck. Her voice was soft. “I missed you so much, Seaweed Brain.” 

Percy idly wondered if gods could have heart attacks because it felt like his had stopped. 

Finally, his hands came up slowly to hug her back. “I missed you too, Wise Girl,” he said and suddenly it felt like a large weight on his head had been lifted. But it came crashing down again when he remembered that she was one of Artemis’ hunters and he was a god. 

He stepped back quickly, hands coming up, as if he was scared Annabeth would throw herself in his arms again. “S—sorry,” he stumbled on his words. “My sister needs me,” and within a second he was gone. 

He had lied. Sitting at Montauk, the beach where his parents had met, he frowned at the ocean. He wondered what would happen if the god of loyalty behaved disloyally, but he quickly cast aside the thought. How could he be disloyal to Annabeth? He had no loyalty left with her. 

He felt like he was lying to himself. 

Time continued on. 

Estelle’s wife had been attacked by monsters and his little sister had gotten stuck in the crossfire. 

He felt disconnected from reality. Was there anyone left that felt loyal to? His mother and Paul were dead. His sister was dead. Grover was dead. Nico was dead. Every single person he had known at camp was dead. 

The only person left that he had some semblance of loyalty to was Annabeth. He wondered if she still had any loyalty left for him. 

The next time he ran into the hunters was decades later.

Annabeth didn’t try to hug him again. Still, looking at her, he knew he was in love with her. 

Time continued on. 

He started living for the occasional run in with the hunters. To see her face once every decade. 

Once, while the rest of the hunt tucked into their tents for a night, Annabeth had sat with him, looking out at the mountains. They sat in silence until Percy turned to look at her. 

He traced the lines of her face with his eyes and voiced the one question that scared him the most. 

“I keep wondering,” he started, waiting for her to turn and look back at him. “Was avoiding the pain worth avoiding me?” 


End file.
